The Rush Of Your Skin
by bellaniklaren
Summary: Maura and Jane find themselves in a nightmare, rushing to solve the most important case in the history of Boston Homocide. Everything is hitting a little too close to home.
1. Chapter 1

**I am trying to work on my writing, what better than with a bit of fanfiction? I'm not great at smut, but I am pretty good at plot twists. My writing style has gone out the window since the last time I wrote anything, so here's to self improvement hopefully :/ This will be ongoing, and I'm not saying there will STRICTLY be no smut, it's just that I'm not fantastic at it. Please feel free to review, I am all for constructive criticism, but please be gentle.**

The day had started out like any other day.

"Maura, do NOT tell me you forgot! I got up and ran all the way here, this early in the morning -"

"Jane, Jane I'm sorry. Can I make you some tea?"

Jane glared at her best friend, standing at the foot of the stairs. Her blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders in a way that should be illegal. The robe tied around her waist did nothing to mask the fact that she had obviously been asleep with nothing on.

God, how does she look so good first thing in the morning?

"If you'd bothered to check your messages, I got in late last night and looked at the forecast. It's way too hot to go running; even this early in the morning. Severe hyperthermia occurs at a body temperature of 104 degrees. If not, then heat cramps and heat exhaustion are definitely major concerns -"

"MAURA, DON'T GOOGLE MOUTH ME AT SIX IN THE MORNING WHEN I HAVEN'T HAD MY COFFEE."

Jane strode past Maura and flopped onto her couch.

"SHOES!" cried Maura, rushing forward to rescue a cushion from under her best friends muddy feet.

Jane looked down, then threw Maura a wicked grin. "Yes, they're on my feet."

Angela entered the room to find her daughter and Maura engaged in what can only be described as a brutal pillow fight.

"JANE CLEMENTINE RIZZOLI, YOU ARE A GUEST IN THIS HOUSE!"

Jane dropped the pillow with a giggle and bounced over to the fridge. "The owner of the house started it, Ma."

"I don't care who started it, I didn't raise you to fight with pillows!"

Jane sniggered into the bottle of water in her hand. "Nah, Frankie and I never used pillows."

Jane barely dodged the whisk aimed at her backside. Everything was interrupted by the ringtone of Jane's cellphone.

"Ugh, so earlyyyyyyy." whined Jane, reaching into her pocket. "Rizzoli."

"Jane? JANE. Where are you, I've been knocking on your apartment door for ten minutes."

"Korsak? Jeez, calm down, I just went for a run to Maura's. What's wrong?"

"Jane, we got a body over at Cedar Junction."

"Alright, I'll get Maura to drive me home to get changed and then we'll both make our way over there."

"NO. Jane, you absolutely can't bring Maura." Jane's heart dropped into a pit in her stomach. She watched Maura and her mother smiling and chatting over tea in the next room. She felt her blood run cold.

"Vince… Vince, no, no, it can't be…"

"I'm sorry Jane. I've got uniforms on the way to Hope's clinic and to Maura's house to do the notifications and ask a few questions."

"Vince, you can't be serious! They're our friends, you can't let Random Cop #3 take care of them!"

"This is coming straight from the brass, Jane. We do everything by the book or people will get hurt, you know what the crime syndicate is like. There's going to be an uproar."

Jane met Maura's eyes over the counter, and Maura finally clicked that something was wrong. "Jane, what is it -"

Her question was cut off by a knock on the front door. Jane snapped her phone shut and tried to get to the door before Maura. Her best friends panic was rising; she knew something horrible had happened. On the door step was Frankie and Charlie. Maura smiled, her body sagging in relief.

"Oh, thank God, it's only you two." Frankie squared his shoulders, trying everything they'd taught him in sensitivity training.

"Maura, I'm sorry to bring such bad news. It's Paddy Doyle."

Maura blanched. "Wh-what about him? H-He's in Cedar Junction awaiting trial."

Frankie tried his best to look her right in the eye, his resolve slowly disappearing into those wide eyes.

"Miss Isles, I'm sorry to tell you that Paddy Doyle was killed last night in his cell."


	2. Chapter 2 - A Long Shot

**Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews and comments already :) I'd like to thank MissToastie for correcting my spelling – I can't believe I was spelling Korsak AND Paddy wrong . anywho, this chapter isn't for the faint of heart. I'm setting this whole thing to take place after seasons 4; so hopefully I'm not going to regret writing this when season 5 hits. As always, read and review, please be gentle but be honest! :)**

Maura's hands shook around the moss-green mug she was holding.

"I should put this down, Hope gave this to me, she got it for me in Guatemala, it's hand thrown and hand painted and glazed using a local technique that dates back to... to... I can't remember. I don't want to drop it. I should put it down. Yes, I definitely should."

Frankie stared, wide-eyed, across the table. The normally calm, stylish, put-together medical examiner was stammering and uttering nonsense. He had seen this woman face down serial killers, put her hands inside tubs of rotten human remains and save lives. He had eaten dinner across the table from her at least four nights a week for the past year and a half.

She was broken, and bruised, and he had dropped the bomb that almost killed her.

"Maura, I know this is difficult, but I have to ask you some questions... I'm sorry, Jane, but I do!"

Frankie glared at his sister, who was sitting next to Maura shooting him the dirtiest look he'd ever seen. Jane pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over Maura's shoulders.

"Maur, honey, I'm gonna put take this, okay?" Jane said as she gently tugged the mug from Maura's grip.

Maura stared, eyes unfocused, at some point over Frankie's left shoulder. "Yes, yes of course. In 83% of homocides the murderer was known to the victim, and in 49% of cases it was a close family member, 38% were committed by spouses in the last twelve months alone, and... and... Jane, I don't know how many were committed by daughters."

Jane gave a weak smile. "We'll look it up later."

"Maura, where were you last night between the hours of nine and eleven thirty?"

"JESUS, FRANKIE, WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?! You think Maura just strolled into Cedar Junction and killed Patty Doyle?!"

"Rizzoli."

All heads except Maura's snapped in the direction of the new voice. Sean Cavanaugh stood in the doorway of the living room. Angela made to stand, but he waved her down.

"Rizzoli, I know this is hard, and she's your friend, but you know we have to run it this way. I've got the chief and the governor up my ass, and I give it about thirty more seconds before the feds decided that this is their playground. We have to do this right. None of us think that Maura had anything to do with it, but we've gotta go BY THE BOOK, to the LETTER. If I catch you acting like that again I will kick you outside of this house and OFF this investigation. Do I make myself clear?"

Jane slumped, the very picture of a petulant child.

"Rizzoli, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir." pouted Jane.

"Good. Keep going, Frank."

"Maura, do you remember what I asked?" Frankie said gently, leaning across the table to lay his hand on Maura's.

A bitter, horrible taste surged through Jane's mouth. She was met with the overwhelming desire to kick her brother in the face.

_Don't you touch her, she's mine._

Jane struggled to keep her feelings in check. She knew better than to start feeling like this now. She'd had two and a half years to tell Maura how she felt. She wasn't going to do it straight after her father had died. There had been countless opportunities – perfect moments. Jane sighed and resumed rubbing her best friends back.

"Yes, Frankie. I was at, um, Jane, the place I showed you yesterday?"

"Oh! Yeah, she was at some art museum opening. Hold on, I think she left the invitation in her purse."

Jane heard Cavanaugh offering condolences as she started up the stairs. Glancing back, she saw him discreetly grab her mothers hand and give it an affectionate squeeze. Angela's red-rimmed eyes looked up at Sean and offered him a watery smile through quivering lips.

Jane's bare feet padded along expensive carpet and rugs to Maura's bedroom. She tried not to look at the photos of her and Maura together, smiling on the wall. There was one taken not so long ago, with Maura and Jane smiling at the camera, Jane's left arm thrown around Mauras shoulders. It had been in the fleeting moment when Jane thought she would marry Casey. The ring glinted ubiquitously, reminding Jane of the man who's heart she had broken before he ran away to war. Through fresh eyes, the photo almost looked like an engagement picture.

Jane swallowed the fresh bile and charged into Maura's perfectly neat bedroom. She found the purse instantly, on the table next to the walk-in closet door. This was one of the things Maura had never quite rescued after Angela's "organization" spree. The label was still stuck to the table, which Jane was sure had been worth quite a bit of money before the words "PURSE/KEYS/MISCELLANEOUS" had been emblazoned on it in the form of a white sticker.

Jane hauled the bag downstairs just in time to see Korsak stomping through the front door. "VINCE." she stage-whispered, beckoning him to sneak onto the stairs where they wouldn't be seen – or heard.

"Vince, what the hell is going on?"

"Jane, you know I'm not supposed to -"  
"VINCE."  
Korsak sighed, resigned. He knew that Jane was more likely to shoot him in the foot than let him walk away before he'd answered her.

"The guards on the midnight shift doing their first rounds found him. He'd been dead for about an hour, maybe more. Pike is looking at him now. He'd been tazered, Jane. Someone had jerry-rigged a guard tazer and held down the button. Cardiac arrest."

"What, are we looking at a guard here? Who was the last one in his cell?" Jane whispered in horror.

Vince shook his head tiredly. "That's the thing. The last guard that used a keycard in that hallway was found dead, about fifteen feet from Paddy's cell door."

Jane cringed. "Don't they move in pairs? Where's his partner?"

"In the wind. We're trying to find him, but there were drag marks. I'd say he got hauled off."

"Inside job gone bad?"

"Don't know yet, we're playing this one pretty close to the chest."

"Hate to break up this little meeting, but Vince, if you aren't too busy playing Gossip Girl, we need you in here." Cavanaughs voice had a definite edge to it. He glared at them from the bottom of the stairs.

Jane numbly handed Cavanaugh the purse and sat on the step. If he'd wanted her to go back in there, he would have asked for her. On any other case she would have thrown a fit, but she needed to stay on this case. Maura needed her to stay on this case. She needed to catch the people who did this to her best friends father.

It seemed like hours later that Vince finally stuck his head around the corner and nodded for her to come in. In reality, it had probably been a matter of minutes. Jane finally clicked onto what was missing from the picture.

"Vince, where's Frost?"

"Outside with the uniforms, they're setting up who will be watching Maura's house and when."

Jane stopped dead. "She's not STILL a suspect?!"

"No, we checked her alibi. There's even pictures of her on the galleries Facebook page. Good thing one of the major attractions of the museum is the massive clock in the lobby. She was there until at least three AM – it's airtight Jane."

Jane breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay. Then why the stakeout?"

Vince looked nervously at his shoes. "For her protection."

Jane changed course, starting towards the front door.

"Where are you going?"

"I wanna tell Frost that I'll be staying with her round the clock as well, it might help him out a little."

Jane threw open the front door.

It took her a good ten seconds to process what was happening. The first thing she felt was a warm wetness on her feet. She heard Vince yelling something, but she didn't catch what he'd said.

All she could see was her partner, lying sprawled across the door-step with a bullet hole right between his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3 - Hush, Hush

Everything in Jane's world had come to a halt. She barely had time to process what was happening before Cavanaugh slammed into her, tackling her to the ground. She saw Frankie ushering Angela and Maura behind the couch, keeping them low and invisible from the windows. Korsak, close to her left side, was belly-crawling towards his radio.

Her blood rushing in her ears almost drowned out Vince's voice. She vaguely heard him saying "officer down! Officer down!" and the realization hit her like a punch in the stomach. The officer down was FROST. Her partner. Barry Frost was dead on her best friends porch. This couldn't be happening, this had to be a dream.

The next thing Jane knew, she was being unceremoniously rattled into the back of an ambulance. Panic set in and she threw every punch and kick she could from her position on the bed. Strong hands grabbed her and she felt a pinch above her elbow. Her eyes darted around and locked on with the soft-hazel green of Maura's.

Maura bit her lip and quickly wiped tears away with her free hand, pulling the needle from Jane's arm with the other hand. "You need to rest." she choked out. Her voice creaked with agony. "No, Maur, don't make me sleep, please..." muttered Jane, the medication already setting in. "Jane, please, get some rest."

"Maur, I love you."

"I love you too Jane." smiled Maura weakly.

"No, Maur, I..." Jane's eyes fluttered shut.

She woke again hours later, stretched out on her own bed. Her eyes, still drowsy from the drugs, rolled in their sockets a few times before they settled on her best friend, perched on the edge of her bed reading. "Maur..." croaked Jane, reaching towards her with feeble hands.

Maura's head snapped towards her and in one fluid motion, she was leaning over Jane and checking vitals. "You passed out and went into shock, I convinced them you'd be better off waking up at home, you've been asleep for almost nine hours and I was worried I'd given you too much medication or you'd never wake up and I was reading about the after effects of trauma and..."

"Maur, don't google mouth me before my coffee."

Jane's heart leapt into her throat as the morning came flooding back. She'd said that exact thing to Maura this morning, before Paddy and Frost and all this hell.

"Maur, what happened?"

Maura's lip shook. "Jane, I don't think -"

"MAURA." growled Jane. "If you don't tell me I'll get up and go into the office."

Maura bristled. "Keep threatening me and I'll tie you down."

Jane tried her hardest not to think too hard about that sentence.

Maura wrung her hands, something she never usually did. "Barry was shot by a sniper."

Jane groaned in pain. Her partner, her friend.

"Did we catch who did it?"

"No, not yet. We did find that the shot came from one of my neighbors rooftops, about eight houses down the street. It would have been incredibly difficult to make. That's also why we didn't hear the shot."

Jane's brow furrowed. "What was he doing out there alone?"

Maura's face crumpled. "He wasn't alone, Jane, he had three new cadets with him. The youngest was nineteen. They were KIDS. Barry was TWENTY NINE. They're all GONE and it's because of ME and -"

Maura was cut off by Jane throwing her arms around her neck. "Shhh, Maur, it's not your fault, shhh, I promise."

When Maura's sobs slowed to hiccups, Jane asked her the question she hadn't wanted to.

"What did you mean, your fault?"

Maura took three deep breaths, steeling herself.

"CSU found the note on the roof where the shots were taken. It was a book of newspaper clippings. Paddy, me, Hope and... and..."

Jane brushed Maura's hair back from her face. "Who, Maur?"

Maura looked up into Jane's eyes. Jane was heartbroken by the pain and sadness she saw there. She wanted to hold her, kiss her, tell her how much she loved her and how she would die to save her from this. The thought struck a chord in Jane. WOULD she have to die for Maura? Would that be how she went out?

Maura's voice was even softer than it had been before, as though the weight of the world was pressing on her chest.

"There was you, Jane."

Jane blinked twice. "Well, I suppose they know we're friends, whoever they are. They'd know how close we are and -"

"That wasn't all, Jane. It was the photo we took at your mothers wedding. It was Angela, Sean, Frankie, Tommy and you. Even TJ was circled."

The bile rose in Jane's throat. She, Cavanaugh and Frankie knew the dangers of being police officers. It made you a target, whether you were involved or not. But her mother? Tommy? Her baby nephew? How could she protect them all?

"That's not everything, Jane."

Jane's eyes widened. She wasn't sure how much more information she could process.

"There was a picture of this man, Korsak says his name is Lou Bredgen. He's wanted up and down the country for mob-related things. He's a bad, bad man Jane."

Jane took the proffered photo and saw what she was supposed to see before she read the writing at the bottom of the page. She saw the same tilt to the eyes, the same jawline, the same hair colour. The same half-smile and posture.

It was a mugshot. At the bottom of the page, someone had crossed out his name in red ink, and written his real name at the bottom.

**_Liam Patrick Doyle_.**

"I have a brother, Jane."

Jane dropped the page and looked at her best friend, who had curled her knees to her chest.

"I have a brother, and he's every bit the monster that my father was."


	4. Chapter 4 - Bye, Bye, Birdy

**Hi guys! Thank you all so much for the kind words, the follows and just for taking the time to read my blahblahblah :3 I know I've been updating a lot, I just throw out a chapter every time I have the time. I've got enough storyline planned out for this to go for another eight or nine chapters if I keep the chapters this size. As always, review but please be gentle! (I promise one of these chapters will end in something other than a huge twist, but not this time!)**

The next few days passed in a blur. A frantic Angela Rizzoli came to Jane's apartment before the sun rose the following day, to find her daughter and Maura curled up together over the covers of Jane's queen sized bed. Jo Friday raised a sleepy head at Angela as she stood in the doorway, unsure of whether to disturb them. Seeing them lying together brought a twinge in Angela's chest.

The entire group threw themselves into work. Maura did not handle sharing her morgue with Pike well. When the man had the audacity to bring Paddy's heart to her to "ask for an opinion" with a smug smile on his face, Maura was pleased that Jane and Frankie were in her office. Frankie felt a small pang of guilt knowing he'd broken an elderly mans nose. Jane felt no such guilt.

The funeral of Frost and the cadets was something Jane wished she could forget. Standing in her dress blues at his graveside was one of the most horrible moments in her life. She saw Frost's mother being almost carried down behind his casket by her weeping wife. Jane realized afterwards as they were all sitting at The Dirty Robber that his father hadn't been at Barry's funeral.

Suddenly, it was the day after the funeral and Jane found herself sitting at her desk with coffee in her hand, staring at Barry's empty desk. Cavanaugh walked in, clearing his throat loudly.

"Attention everyone. I know that this is a difficult time for everyone here, but we need to push through. For Frost, for Doctor Isles, for the Rizzolis, even for me, though I don't expect you to break your necks for that last one."

Jane was sure that was supposed to be a joke, but instead she just felt sick to her stomach.

"I truly wish I was handing out this achievement at a more cheerful time, where everyone could go grab a beer and celebrate. I was going to hold off until after the investigation was cleared, but it seems we'll need the manpower. I would like you to all give a round of applause to the newest homocide detective, Francesco Rizzoli."

Jane mustered a weak smile and a clap for her brother. She was proud of him, she truly was, but this was an awful time to be doing this. Cavanaugh knew that, everyone in the department knew that. Nevertheless, they clapped and cheered for the clearly shell-shocked Frankie.

When the handshakes and accolades died down, Frankie made his way to Jane and Korsak.

"We haven't cleaned out his – I mean, we don't have a – maybe you could..." stammered Jane, trying to skirt the issue.

"Forget about it, I don't need a desk. We'll worry about it later." said Frankie stoically as he carefully ignored the wooden elephant in the room. "Where we at?"

Korsak looked at the three whiteboards lined up, all dedicated to this one case. Pictures, arrows, names were scrawled everywhere; it was difficult to read anything at all.

The picture of Liam Doyle was dead centre, flashing a cocky half smile at them all. His rap sheet was nothing short of impressive. Burglary, arson, extortion, murder, manslaughter,racketeering, drug-trafficking, solicitation, the list went on. "How are we supposed to offer protection to a guy eight states can't find?" muttered Jane, glaring at him and trying to ignore his resemblance to Maura.

"We don't. He's got his own people, they'll keep him safe." said Korsak, flicking through his notes for the hundredth time.

"Yeah. Let's go back, to the start. This all started with Paddy." said Frankie, flipping one whiteboard over and writing Paddy's name on the fresh surface. "Who do we think killed Paddy?"

Jane raised an eyebrow. "You're going to need another whiteboard."

Frankie glared at her. "You know what I mean, who are our top picks?"

Korsak leaned against his desk, thinking. "Well, there's the heads of the other mob families, they could have done it pretty easily. Pay off a guard here and there, you could get in easily enough."

Jane put her head in her hands. "We've been through the dead guard and the missing guards financials with a tooth comb. They were barely going to make rent this month, let alone... oh my god, that's it."

Frankie and Korsak hurried to get out of the way of the hurricane that followed. Jane threw papers off her desk left and right, until she finally found the piece of paper she was looking for.

"Korsak, studio apartment downtown, how much you think that would go for a month?"

Vince scratched his head. "Maybe $600? The street the missing guy lived on was a dump though, so maybe less. Plus he shared with another two people, so probably less..."

Jane cut him off. "So why was he paying $1100 a month in rent?"

Korsak grabbed the paper from her. "That can't be right." As he checked the numbers, he realized where Jane was going as she tapped on her computer. "The rental agency name is a fake."

"Probably a front for the mob, yeah?" said Frankie, catching on.

"That's what I'm thinking. Guy gets in too deep with gambling or drinking or something like that, starts paying off the mob through his 'rental company' so everything looks on the level, mob finds out he's a prison guard, pays him to get somebody in. They kill the other guard, kill Paddy, and then our guy either chickens out or is classed as one too many witnesses and gets dragged off. We gotta find out where his money was going and fast, because that's our killer."

While the homocide department started running internet searches as fast as their fingers could go, three floors below them Pike and the crime lab techs left for lunch. Maura wasn't sure how long they had been gone before she noticed she was alone in the lab, staring at autopsy reports without actually taking in any information.

She didn't hear footsteps, and she didn't hear the back door softly click shut.

"Hey, sis."

Maura spun to find herself face to face with Liam Doyle. Before she could scream or defend herself, she felt the prick of the needle in her neck and she slumped into his arms. Whistling, Liam tossed her into a firemans carry and strolled out the back door to a waiting car, tossing her cellphone onto a bench with a gloved hand.

Maura didn't stir.


	5. Chapter 5 - He Ain't Heavy

**Hi everyone! Thank you all for your kind words :D it's been brought to my attention that I have been spelling homicide wrong this whole time, but my computer didn't pick it up. Whoops. Live and learn!**

**No huge twist this time, just some character development. I'm hoping to have chapter six up tonight, since I've mostly written it already. As always, please read and review! :)**

It took an hour for anyone to notice that Maura was gone, and a further forty five minutes to realize that something was horribly wrong. The crime lab began processing their own morgue, frantically trying to find their M.E. By the time the news reached Jane, they had tracked the rent payments to a small outfit of thugs running things downtown.

Frankie beat Jane out of the elevator, which means that he beat her to the uniformed officer who was supposed to stay with Maura constantly. It took every fibre of his being not to beat him into a pulp, but he was quickly distracted by holding back his irate sister.

There was almost nothing to go on. There were no prints, no hairs, nothing to say who had taken Maura and where. All they had was a pair of tyre treads leading out of the parking lot, and the smallest amount of transfer where the getaway car had side-swiped the coroners van in the rush to leave. Susie was frantically running every test she could think of through the mass-spectrometer, wiping away tears for her lost boss.

Jane refused to consider that Maura might be hurt, or dead. "There's no blood, Korsak." she mused as she walked through the crime scene for the thousandth time. "There's no blood. She was all alone down here. If it was our killer, he would have done it and run off. Why take her?"

Korsak was surveying the plastic curtain that hung from the back dock door. "I don't know, Jane. But I don't like it." Korsak squinted at the curtain, moving closer. "HA! Not so smart now, are ya, tough guy?" Jane hurried to him and finally saw what he saw.

On one of the hanging plastic sheets, there was an area of discolouration. Jane paused, wondering if Korsak was clutching at straws to make her feel better. "Vince, I don't -" "GET CSU OVER HERE NOW." shouted Vince to the crime tech's that were still wandering around the parking lot, looking for anything they could have missed. Vince pointed at the patch, and the tech instantly knew what was happening. Jane suddenly felt very dumb.

"Mind telling me what the hell is going on?" she snapped, irritated with herself. "Don't you see? Whoever it was was waiting between the door and the curtain. It's fogged up because it was pressing against their face. They were BREATHING on it, Jane. We might be able to pull some DNA."

Jane was filled with an overwhelming urge to kiss Korsak. "Vince, you're a genius."

Maura was cold. Her intelligence kicked in before full consciousness did. She remembered what had happened, and she knew to keep her breathing regular and feign sleep for as long as possible. _Think, Maura, think._ She went through her senses. She could tell through her closed eyelids that she was in a dimly lit room. She could hear someone else breathing, and a faint flicking noise every so often. The pages of a book turning, maybe? She FELT cold. Her thin scrubs weren't made for anything outside her temperature controlled morgue and office.

"I know you're awake."

Maura's blood ran cold. It was a deep, male voice, with the tiniest hint of a sing-song Irish accent. She opened her eyes. For the first time, she realized she wasn't restrained. She stretched out on a large bed, with the lamps in the room turned down low. She could see someone sitting in the armchair at the end of her bed, a thick book resting on the arm of the chair.

"I didn't know you existed either, until last week." The voice said, standing from his chair and perching himself on the edge of the bed. Maura cringed and scooted away.

"Hey, hey, I won't hurt you. I won't ever hurt you, I promise. We're family." said Liam, standing up and stepping away from his sister.

"We're NOT family." spat Maura, her heart racing as rage filled her. "You're a monster. We share a parent, that's it."

She tried hard not to see the hurt flitter across Liam's features. "I get that, I do." he said, quietly. "I'm not like Paddy. I'm not exactly proud of how I've lived my life. But it was either do what I was told or die. Can you honestly hate me for that?"

Maura's resolve wavered, for a second. She knew what Paddy had been like. He'd never even PRETENDED to show remorse for everything he'd done, with the exception of Sean's family. She pulled her knees up to her chest and thought for a moment.

"Why have you brought me here?" she said finally.

"I have to keep you safe. Paddy knew what was going to happen, long before it did. He had his sources, inside and out. He knew someone was coming for him, and me, and you. He said if I didn't promise to take care of you, someone would take care of ME."

Maura knew exactly the kind of 'care' Liam was referencing.

"How long do I have to stay here?" she said.

"As long as it takes." said Liam softly. "Your detective friends are smart, they have the highest conviction rate in the tri-state area. They'll figure it out."

"Do you know who is doing this? They... they shot my friend, too." said Maura. The weight of Frost's death weighed on her. She would never, ever stop blaming herself for Barry's death.

Liam grimaced. "I know. We were in your street, watching your house. We thought you'd be safe with all those cops crawling around. We let our guard down. It's our fault an innocent man, and three innocent kids died."

Maura looked up, surprised at the empathy. She'd read his case file. The Liam she had pictured was a horrible man. This man was... broken. Sad. Empty.

"You couldn't have known."

Liam suddenly stood up and strode to the wall. Before Maura could stop him, he threw his fist straight through the thin wood.

It was then Maura saw several other holes around the room, just like this one.

She was at his side, her medical training overtaking her fear of him. "That was really, really stupid." she chided, holding his hand in her own. "Can we get some more light?"

Liam looked at her, shellshocked. She was trying to take care of him. He watched her lean down to try and inspect his hand in the dim room.

"There's... there's a lightswitch next to the door. Please don't try and leave, there are guards outside."

Maura blinked. _Guards? _She had almost forgotten she was here as a prisoner.

"I... I won't try and leave, not until I've fixed this up." she stammered as she gestured to his hand. "Is there a first aid kit in here?"

"Under the bed." said Liam, flinching as he dropped into his chair.

A few minutes later, Maura was stitching the cuts in his hand without any hesitation. "You have a dislocated finger." she murmured as she tied off the last thread.

"Yeah, that happens a lot." said Liam, biting his lip as he gingerly tried to move it.

Maura saw that same expression in the mirror every time she had a headache. Her world was changing, again. She had a brother, who was a lot like her. Could she overlook his past? Could she add to her already mismatched family?

Without thinking, she simply popped the bone back into it's socket. Liam blanched, his face going white.

"Ouch! Jeez, Maura!" He said, rubbing his hand.

"Don't do that, you'll rip your stitches." she said, smacking his good hand away.

They made eye contact. Maura was overwhelmed with the urge to laugh. She shook the feeling away, standing to go back to her place on the bed. She noticed the book he'd been reading.

"Voltaire?" she asked, picking up the battered hard cover. It was hard to think of a mobster appreciating Voltaire's style. The thought left a bitter tasted in her mouth. This was a mobster, not her brother. He had murdered people. He had ruined lives.

"Yeah, it's my favourite." said Liam quietly.

"Mine, too." whispered Maura.

Back at the precinct, Jane smacked her desk in frustration and stood to pace back and forth in front of the whiteboards.

"The DNA was a sibling match to Maura. Not a half sibling – FULL sibling match. This means it had to be Doyle. It also means he's gotta be Hope's son, too." she spat.

Korsak and Frankie sat in their chairs, severely sleep-deprived and a little frightened of Jane. 

"Doyle took Maura. Was it Doyle behind the killings? Did he leave his mugshot to throw us off? Is he trying to protect her in the same insane way his father did? GOD, why does she have to have such a crazy family?! Next thing you know some half-cousin-uncle-man is going to come strolling in with a bomb strapped to his chest." she half yelled, throwing papers off her desk in anger.

Korsak gently said "Jane, you need to calm down. Go home and-"

"I WILL NOT GO HOME WHILE SOME PSYCHOPATH HAS MAURA!" yelled Jane, kicking over her desk chair.

"Rizzoli." came a new voice.

Cavanaugh stood in the doorway of his office, a tired Angela at his side.

"Come on sweetie, it's time to go home and get some rest. You're no good when you're tired." said Angela pleadingly.

"I'm fine, Ma." said Jane. That was a lie. She was exhausted, angry and terrified.

"Rizzoli, it's an order." said Sean, as firmly as he could. "As your boss I'm ordering you to go home. As your step-father I am BEGGING you to go home."

Jane melted. "Okay. Wait, can I stay at Maura's instead? I have to feed Bass for her anyway."

Sean looked at her with nothing but pity, which Jane hated. "Sure, Rizzoli. There's a patrol going outside her house, you'll be safe there. We're staying in the guest house, we'll be right there. Frankie's coming to stay there too."

"I am?" said Frankie, clearly surprised.

"You sure are, Rizzoli."

Downstairs, the mass-spectrometer finally spat out a result and started it's own search. Susie, who had fallen asleep at her desk, stirred slightly at the noise before going back to sleep. Unbeknownst to the tired people walking out the front door to head to Maura's, tomorrow morning they would have answers to questions they hadn't even asked yet.


	6. Chapter 6 - My One And Lonely

**Hey! Long time no see! Sometimes, life gets a little nuts (for example, I kinda had a baby during this un-scheduled break) and sometimes your mojo just goes on vacation. I've been struggling a bit (okay, a lot) with post-natal depression and this is helping to distract me. As always, read and review if you would like to. I'm sorry about the big break, but I'm feeling a bit more inspired to keep working on this. Let me know if you'd like me to continue, because I really feel this has a few more chapters in it at least! Thanks for your time :)**

* * *

"Janie, wake up sweetheart."

Jane was cold. Stiff and cold. She blinked her eyes several times, daylight pouring in the window. She looked at the slightly unfamiliar ceiling and realized she had fallen asleep on Maura's kitchen floor. With a wince, she remembered she had fallen asleep talking to Bass, promising him she would bring Maura home if it killed her. Without warning, a very large green object moved in front of her face. With a yelp, Jane scooted backwards, banging her head on a kitchen cabinet in the process.

"Honey, it was just Bass." said Angela with a hint of a smile.

"Stupid turtle!" exclaimed Jane, glaring at him.

"Tortoise." came three voices in unison. Angela, Sean and Frankie looked at each other and laughed for a moment, but it never reached their eyes. Months of having Maura around correcting Jane had rubbed off. Jane's heart sank.

"No word?"

Sean shook his head sadly. "Not yet. Suzie called and said for you to get into the station as soon as possible, but -"

Jane was on her feet before he could finish the sentence. "Where are my keys?" she asked frantically, moving around the counter to check the couch.

"Hidden. I'll give them back to you once you've eaten breakfast." said Angela firmly.

"MA! I'm not fifteen anymore!" yelled Jane. "No, you aren't, which means you need a decent breakfast or you'll be asleep on your desk by lunchtime!" yelled back Angela. "Fine! I'll walk to work!" snapped Jane.

Sean sighed from his seat at the counter. "Don't make me call the desk guys and keep you out Jane. Please just eat something. Korsak is on his way in, but he promised he wouldn't talk to Suzie without you."

Jane pouted and sat down next to her brother. Angela set about making breakfast, and everyone tried everything they could think of to ignore the empty chair at the end of the counter.

* * *

Across town, birds were chirping in the freshly fallen snow. A woman set her small son down, rugged up against the chill of the morning. He raced haphazardly away from her, moving in the jerking manner of a child new to walking. The woman smiled as he stumbled up to the play equipment and followed him. Reaching the climbing wall he turned and demanded she put him up the top. As she walked towards him, movement in her peripheral vision made her pause. In the childrens tunnel there was a bundle of blankets, with hair and one booted foot sticking out. "It's so cold out this time of year." she sighed to herself, her heart wrenching for the homeless person she assumed was inside. She walked towards the bundle, intent on sending the person off with enough money in their pocket for a warm breakfast.

The woman screamed as an unconscious Maura fell out of the tunnel. Her young son, who had come over out of curiosity, began to cry. A man running past stopped and ran towards them, shouting out to ask if they were okay. A few minutes later, ambulance and police sirens filled the park.

Maura didn't stir.

* * *

Jane didn't make it to the station before the call came in. Korsak's shaky voice was still ringing in her ears. "Jane, we found her, in the park, she was cold, the doctors aren't sure..." Siren blaring, Jane put her foot down and raced to Boston General in record time. She stumbled through the emergency department doors. Slipping and sliding on the melting snow tracked in from outside, she slammed into the desk a little harder than she meant to. "Maura Isles, where is she?" panted Jane. She had run from her car across the parking lot to the doors. Her heart was pounding and she felt physically sick. She wished it had just been from her mad dash across the asphalt.

"Are you family?" asked a stern nurse, glancing at Jane's semi-brushed hair and rumpled blazer.

Jane threw her badge at the desk. "I need to see her, NOW." spat Jane, her heart pounding harder with every moment.

The nurse hurriedly gave a room number and Jane took off running. She skipped the elevator and instead ran up all five flights of stairs. Her legs burning, she stumbled onto the fifth floor. Every breath was agony, but all she could think of was Maura lying alone in one of these sterile beds. With her chest aching she skidded to a halt in front of Mauras door and threw it open.

Maura's eyes were still closed. Her chest moved as she breathed, slowly but surely. Jane walked slowly towards the bed with tears pricking at her eyes. Maura was covered with a foil blanket, a desperate bid to bring her body temperature up. The uniformed police officer who stood stoically at the end of Maura's bed quietly slipped his gun back into it's holster and nodded to Jane. He silently left the room.

They were alone.

There was no blue tinge to Maura's lips. That gave Jane hope. She pulled the blanket away for a moment and checked Maura's long, pale fingers. Again, no sign of frostbite. They were cool to the touch and the veins were showing, starkly blue under paper thin white skin. Jane knew enough to know that there was no danger to her hands as long as she was kept warm now. She breathed a sigh of relief. She checked the time. The nervous nurse downstairs had stammered something about rounds at ten. That was ten minutes away.

Jane reached to the end of the bed and scooped up Maura's chart with one hand, sliding her other hand under the blanket to hold Maura's. She scanned the first page, feeling butterflies flare up in her stomach when she realized Maura had listed her as next of kin. Seeing her name written in Maura's neat handwriting made Jane feel warm. She ran the fingers of her free hand over the photocopy, knowing that Maura had filled this out when she had tried, in her words, to steal third while playing baseball with the Rizzoli's last Fourth Of July. One broken ankle later, Maura preferred to stay in the stands and cheer everyone else on.

Jane glanced over the page. Presented unconscious, identity confirmed by police, low body temp, surgical consult...

Jane's heart leapt to her throat. Surgical consult?

_Surgeon recommends amputation of left foot as soon as stable_

Jane knew immediately that she shouldn't look_. _Despite her instincts she reached for the foil blanket and pulled it upward, revealing Maura's feet.

Jane crumpled to her knees. The blackened, dead tissue on Maura's foot extended from her toes to just above her ankle. Jane found it hard to breathe. She curled her knees to her chest and sobbed, her shoulders shaking from the effort to stay quiet and not wake her friend. She didn't know if it was a few moments or a few minutes later, she shook her head decisively and stood. Maura needed her to be better than this. She wiped her eyes on her jacket sleeve and took a few deep breaths. She could do this.

She turned to face Maura again. She wasn't prepared to see Maura awake, her golden brown eyes filled with tears, staring at her ruined limb. Jane quickly threw the blanket back over her foot.

Maura slowly lifted her head to look at Jane. "Maur? Maur, honey, you feeling okay? Here, let me get the doctor in here." Jane pushed the call button and sat on the edge of Maura's bed, reaching towards her face to brush her hair from her eyes. "Do you feel okay? Are you warm enough? Thirsty?" Jane babbled on.

Maura coughed slightly, clearing her throat. "I'm fine, thank you." she said, slightly shuffling away from Jane on the bed. Her golden eyes looked up at Jane questioningly. "Maur, what's wrong?" asked Jane, her brow furrowing.

Maura blinked. "I'm sorry, but who are you?" she asked.

Jane's world came crashing down around her ears.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Sparks On Your Tongue

Jane felt numb. She wandered up the front steps of the station. She felt like there was lead in her boots. Out of habit she meandered into the cafe to get coffee. Her mother, filled in by Frankie, knew her daughter well enough to hand her the cup and not speak. Her motherly love won out and she let her hand fall to Jane's shoulder and linger for a moment. Jane offered her mother a weak smile before walking away. It was the most she could muster.

She walked slowly into homicide. She stopped and stared, eyes glazed, at Frost's empty desk. It had become something of a shrine. Various officers had dropped cards, flowers, small robot action figures, even a small teddy bear wearing a police uniform on the desk.

She had lost too many people this week.

Korsak looked up, and asked hesitantly if Jane had taken Maura's statement.

"She doesn't remember anything." said Jane, tearing her eyes from the small bear wearing the uniform. "She knows her name, but that's all. Her mother is there and she doesn't remember her. She didn't remember Frankie when he came in, or Ma, or... or..."

Her eyes dropped to the floor.

"Or me." she said, finally.

Korsak handed her a piece of paper. "Here are her tox results. She was found with a huge amount of benzodiazepines in her system Jane, no one would remember anything through that. I can't believe she's even awake and talking with this amount. She'll pull through, our doc always does."

Jane glanced at the piece of paper. He was right. The drugs would wear off. What wouldn't wear off was the ache she felt in her chest every time she remembered those words. "Who are you?"

Jane thought about it for a moment. Who was she to Maura? She knew what Maura was to her. She thought that Maura might consider her her best friend, but nothing more. She knew almost definitely that Maura didn't lie awake at night, driven half insane thinking of the curve of Jane's lips or the way she filled out a dress. Jane had always thought she was straight until Maura came along. Maura, with her golden eyes and china doll skin. Maura, with her sweet freckles and muscular arms. Maura, with her long legs that connected to her perfect -

Korsak shook Jane's shoulder. "JANE." he said, looking at her worriedly.

"Sorry Vince, must have stroked off there for a second." said Jane, crossing her legs. "What did you say?"

"I said, have you been to see Suzie yet?"

Jane scurried from the room, cursing herself for forgetting. She leaned her forehead against the cold elevator doors and sighed.

"Please remember me, Maura. I'll never forget you."

Maura was just dozing off when a nurse slipped into her room. She groaned. "Vitals again? What's the point? They're just gonna cut my foot off anyway!" she snapped, completely uncharacteristically. A small part of her brain rebelled, telling her that she should be nicer to people than that. The large part of her brain that was still tired and fuzzy cheered for her rudeness. She felt selfish, petulant and grouchy. She didn't care who knew it.

The nurse faltered slightly. "Well, good to see you're awake." he said, his golden brown eyes lighting up with a smirk.

Maura cursed her brain. She knew this man, she knew she did. She'd had a parade of people in this morning that seemed to know her and she couldn't remember any of them, no matter how hard she tried. She KNEW that slight hint of an accent. He seemed familiar.

He sank into the chair next to her bed, his scrubs almost falling from his waist. "These are about eight sizes too big." he growled. He bunched a handful of fabric at his hip and sat, his face softening as he met her eyes. "I'm so, so sorry." he whispered, his eyes travelling to the lumps at the end of the bed where her feet were.

Maura's grouchiness flared up again. "I don't need your pity." she spat, crossing her arms like a child.

The nurse's face turned to shock, then split into a grin. "I could get along with THIS Maura." he chuckled. "You look like Dad right now."

Maura glared at him. "Well I wouldn't know." Her voice softened and fell to barely a whisper. "I don't even know what I look like..." she trailed off.

The nurse reached over and tipped her chin up. "Beautiful, that's what." he smiled, pinching her cheek affectionately.

"Look, we had to split and we had to split fast. They knew where we were and they were coming. We knew it was gonna end in a gun fight. We knew you'd get stuck in the cross fire. You begged me, told me you would never lift a gun, that you're a doctor, you couldn't hurt someone like that. I knew that wasn't gonna be enough, that we didn't have enough men to protect you. You wouldn't leave! You were so stubborn, just like..." the young man's face dropped. "Just like Dad. Anyway, you wouldn't go and you couldn't stay, so I did the best I could. I did some rough math in my head and thought I'd given you just enough to get you out of the building and be dropped somewhere far away. I thought you'd wake up in an hour or so and wander off to get help. Benny smuggled you out. He tried to keep you wrapped up tight so you wouldn't freeze, but..." his eyes wandered back to the end of the bed. "But I guess you wriggled free. I guess I gave you too much. I guess... I'm just sorry, okay?"

Maura's brain wouldn't process all this information. She knew all these words, but they weren't making sense in her head. She cursed her brain again.

"Who are you? How do you know what happened to me?"

The young man smiled at her sadly. "I really think you'd be better off not knowing. If I could get away with telling you nothing, I would. But I need to keep you safe."

Maura looked at him expectantly, her anger barely contained. "WHO ARE YOU?!" she hissed. She was scared. He wasn't a nurse. Was he going to hurt her? Where was the officer that had been outside her door? Why was she in danger? Gun-fight?!

The young man looked at her. He stood, bunching fabric in his hand again to keep his pants up. Maura would have laughed if she hadn't been so frightened. He brushed her hair out of her face and smiled.

"It's me, Maura. Liam. I'm your brother."

And with that, everything came flooding back.

Jane came storming back up from the morgue, papers in hand, throwing copies at Frankie and Korsak before beginning to madly scribble all over their white boards.

"We had it all wrong. The dead guard was strangled, see?" she said, pointing to the faint ligature marks around the dead man's neck. Frankie squinted. "They look more like indents from his collar to me, Jane. Ligature marks are darker than that." Jane turned on her heel. "That's what we were SUPPOSED to think. Look at this."

She tacked up a new picture next to the dead guards photograph. It was a picture of his back. Dead in the middle of his shoulder blades, there was the distinct impression of a shoe. "Suzie found his DNA on Paddy Doyle's sheet."

Korsak clicked before Frankie did. "Someone pushed him over, stood on his back, hooked the sheet around his neck and pulled until he died! Ligature that wide and held that long wouldn't leave a mark. That's brilliant!" he said, scratching his skin.

"Okay, new theory. Theo Watkins," she said, tapping on a photo of the missing guard. "distracts his partner somehow. Tells him to go check another cell, tells him to go back to get something, I don't know. Anyway, he sends him off. He lets in the killer through the courtyard door. The killer kills Paddy in his cell with the tazer. Theo's partner comes back, starts asking too many questions. Maybe he comes back too quickly and gets a look at the killer. Theo knocks him out. It was Joey's first shift, he probably didn't know how to defend against an attack like that." Jane's voice softened. The dead guard they had only been twenty two years old, starting his first full time job after finishing college. "Theo knocks him out, chokes him with the sheet, puts the sheet back in the cell, then legs it."

"What about the drag marks?" asked Frankie, flipping through sheets of paper on his desk.

Jane chewed her lip. "I don't know about the drag marks. Maybe Theo tried to drag Joey out of sight and ran out of time?"

Korsak was squinting at the crime scene photos and stills pulled from the surveillance. He walked back to his computer and started clicking through the CCTV videos.

"Oh, gee, why didn't I think of the security tapes? Gosh Korsak it's so great having you around. OH WAIT, the cameras were turned off!" said Jane playfully.

Korsak smiled at her. It was good to see her laughing again. "Look at that footprint, Jane."

Jane looked at the photograph. "Yeah, what?"

Frankie caught on. "Size thirteen, wow." he muttered, flicking through his own notes.

"Theo Watkins was five seven." Korsak continued. Jane scrutinized the photo again.

"Yeah, but sometimes shorter guys can have big feet. Frankie's only five nine and he's got size twelves."

Korsak shook his head. "Cedar Junction pays for their guard uniforms. I've got the file in front of me, Theo Watkins was a size ten."

Jane looked at the photos and shrugged. "Okay, maybe the perp killed Joey too."

Korsak shook his head again. "Look at this. The only working cameras Theo Watkins had to walk past to get into work that night were the ones outside the changing rooms." Korsak hit play on the clip. They watched Theo tug his hat over his eyes as he walked past, tilting his head away from the camera. Jane frowned. "Why hide his face? He wasn't doing anything wrong here, just a guy heading in to work."

Korsak paused the video. "Look at where he walks past the riot gear. See?"

Jane jumped off the desk, her eyes wide. "Those shields are five feet tall, they should come up to his shoulders." said Jane. Korsak grinned. "Exactly. So why do they barely come up to his chest? This guy is at LEAST six three."

"There never was a third man, Jane. Theo never came to work that night. That's our killer right there."

Jane and Frankie both started, dumbfounded, at the man on the security tapes.

"Then where the hell is Theo Watkins?" asked Jane.

Somewhere on Jane's desk, her cellphone rang. She ignored it, thinking it was Angela checking up on her. By the time she checked her messages and realized it was the hospital, Maura was already having a mask placed on her face.

A single tear slid down Maura's cheek as the anaesthesia started to kick in.


End file.
